The present invention relates broadly to home appliances for cooking and, more particularly, to a gas range having a supplemental primary air supply and stabilization apparatus.
Gas ranges provide an excellent baking and broiling environment for preparing various dishes in a highly effective manner. Gas ovens burn hot and steady and provide excellent temperature control as well as an instant on-and-off operation with little residual heat. For oven heating, gas ovens include bake elements and broil elements similar to their electric counterparts, but with different structures based on the need to supply the gas heating elements with a combustible fuel and air mixture and the ability to produce discrete flames for even oven-cavity heating.
Gas broiler elements are used when the oven is to be taken to an elevated temperature for broil-type cooking and due to the location of the broil element near the top of the oven cavity, the space between the oven cavity and an associated cooktop can reach undesirable temperatures. Therefore, in order to provide better control of the cooktop temperature as well as protect the electronics of nearby control systems, gas ovens can include a ventilation channel that can provide a cooling airstream intermediate the oven cavity and the cooktop. Usually such a ventilation channel includes a ventilation fan for forced-air ventilation of the channel intermediate the cooktop and the oven cavity. It should be noted that while there may be other fans, such as convection fans and the like, associated with a gas range, the only fan of concern to the present invention is the ventilation fan and references herein to “the fan” refer to the ventilation fan.
The gas burner is fueled by a mixture of gas injected by a gas nozzle and ambient air from behind the oven cavity. The air-to-gas ratio is controlled generally to provide the most efficient burning situation while providing the necessary energy input to elevate the oven to cooking temperatures, or in the case of pyrolytic cleaning, to cleaning temperatures that are substantially greater then cooking temperatures.
During times of elevated or high temperatures within the oven cavity and when the fan is in operation, the fan intake tends to draw primary air away from the broil burner intake and the burning efficiency of the broil burner is reduced due to air deficiency. It therefore becomes desirable to enhance the efficiency of the gas broil burner by providing more primary air to the broil burner intake during such periods of air deficiency.